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At a recent meeting of my local tasting group the focus was
on the wines of Giuseppe Mascarello, one of Barolo’s historic producers. For
this event we were fortunate to have Mauro Mascarello as our guest. The focus
of the evening was Mascarello’s most famous wine, Monprivato, and his new
luxury bottling the Riserva Ca’ d’Morissio. Chef Silvano Fiorindo, a veteran of
Cipriani in New York, Buenos Aires and his native Venice, prepared an exquisite
meal to accompany the wines. Chef Fiorindo’s menu started with a thinly sliced
of carpaccio of sirloin. Seared on the outside and cooked perfectly to
medium-rare in the center, it was an ideal dish with which to begin the dinner.
He then prepared a zucchini risotto that paid homage to his Venetian roots in
its style. That was followed by delicious sautéed veal cutlets served with
shitake mushrooms, a dish that paired beautifully with our flight of
Monprivatos from the 1980s. We finished with a selection of artisan cheesed
with which we lingered over the final wines. It was a great evening of wine,
food and conversation.

Flight 1: Mascarello’s 2001 Barolo Monprivato opens with a
delicate perfumed nose and layers of expressive sweet red fruit on medium-bodied
frame, with much length, elegance and finesse, closing with fine, silky
tannins. Though deceptively understated today, it is likely to put on weight in
the bottle and become more even more complex over the next few years.
95/Anticipated maturity: 2011-2026. The stunning 1999 Barolo Monprivato remains
one of my favorite recent vintages of this wine, and my impression is that it
will one day be regarded as one of the great Monprivatos of all time. Made in a
rich, almost opulent style for this wine, the 1999 displays heady aromas of
roses and sweet fruit, along with a more full-bodied profile than the 2001,
with generous amounts of ripe fruit, outstanding length, exquisitely
well-integrated tannins and a finish that lasts forever. As it sits in the
glass, notes of minerals and tobacco gradually emerge to complete this
magnificent Barolo. It is not to be missed. 95+/Anticipated maturity:
2009-2024. In previous tastings the 1998 Barolo Monprivato has always conveyed
a slightly evolved quality in its color and flavors and I feared it was on a
fast aging curve. Then the unthinkable happened. Although I have learned over
the years that the evolution of Monprivato is virtually impossible to predict,
I was stunned to see how youthful this wine has become with a few years of
bottle age, as unlikely as that may sound. It comes across as quite fresh, with
a very classic expression of Monprivato in its floral nose, vibrant red fruit
and medium bodied, open-knit personality. While the 1998 doesn’t possess the
structure or complexity of the very finest vintages it also won’t require years
of cellaring before reaching its peak and is an excellent choice for mid-term
consumption and for those who want to explore Monprivato without waiting years
for a bottle to reach maturity. 92/Anticipated maturity: 2006-2020. The 1996
Barolo Monprivato shows a darker, more brooding side of Monprivato, with
suggestions of tobacco, leather, scorched earth, licorice, iron and cocoa on
the nose and tightly wound layers of sweet dark fruit with a big, powerful
personality. It is a formidably structured, youthful Barolo that will require
at least a few more years for the tannins to integrate. This is one of the
least evolved bottles of this wine I have had and I imagine it will still be a
compelling wine at age 30. Mauro Mascarello believes 1996 to be the best
vintage of the last 50 years. Personally I find the tannins of the 1996 to
still be quite hard and prefer the greater finesse of the 2001 and especially
the 1999, which marries power with elegance. Both the 2001 and 1999 strike me
as more elegant and better balanced wines, but ultimately time will tell. The
1996 is unquestionably an attractive wine that will find its greatest admirers
among those who love firmly structured, classic Barolos built to age for
decades. 94/Anticipated maturity: 2011-2026.

Flight 2: We then moved into a series of great Monprivatos
mostly focused on the great vintages of the 1980s. The 1990 Barolo Monprivato
showcases the opulent, ripe quality of the vintage in its heady alcoholic nose
and deeply expressive notes of ethereal sweet dark fruit, licorice, leather,
roasted coffee beans and tobacco that coat the palate with notable
expansiveness in a soft yet generous style. It is a great example of a Barolo
that has reached the peak of its expression. Although it will continue evolve
gracefully there is little upside in cellaring bottles too much longer.
95/Anticipated maturity: 2006-2011. With its intensely perfumed, balsamic nose,
delicate layers of sweet dark fruit and notable overall harmony, the 1989
Barolo Monprivato perfectly captures the essence of the vintage. It is a study
in contrasts to the more fruit-driven 1990 and comes across fresher and more
youthful than that wine in a structured style that recalls the 1996, but with
perhaps a touch more elegance and finesse. A persistent sweet note of licorice
rounds out the lingering finish of this unforgettable Barolo. Awesome.
95/Anticipated maturity: 2006-2016. Mascarello’s 1988 Monprivato is another
gem. It is a classic Monprivato, with a clear red color, and perfumed. ethereal
aromas that soar out of the glass. Showing plenty of vibrancy and freshness as
well as clean, focused flavors in its suggestions of roses, anise, strawberries
and raspberries, it epitomizes elegance and finesse. Although it is perhaps not
the most complex or age-worthy Monprivato it nevertheless is a beautiful wine
to drink now and over the next 10-12 years. "In 1987 I purchased a plot in
the Monprivato vineyard from Violante Sobrero. The vines didn’t respond
immediately to my pruning and for two years continued to produce the higher
yields to which they had been previosuly accustomed. For that reason I have
never been fully satisfied with my 1988," adds Mascarello. 91/Anticipated
maturity: 2006-2018.

Unfortunately our bottle of the 1985 Barolo Monprivato was
not representative. It displays an evolved nose, and modest sweet perfumed
fruit, but its compact, unyielding frame and dryish tannins suggest a less than
perfect cork. I have been fortunate to taste this wine on two other occasions
within the last 18 months (95+ points 05/05, 96 points 10/05) and sadly this
bottle did not live up to our expectations. Well stored bottles of the 1985
Monprivato will offer a great mature-Barolo drinking experience in a similarly
ripe, open-knit style as the 1990 tasted in this flight. That disappointment
was quickly forgotten with the appearance of the 1982, one my personal
favorites. Though not terribly expressive on the nose at first, the stunning
1982 Barolo Monprivato comes to life on the palate, where is displays generous
amounts of sweet fruit, tobacco and mineral notes, with excellent concentration
and an expansive, profound personality which recalls the ripeness of the 1990
but with the length, finesse and classic structure that defines the 1989. It is
one of the most complete and thoroughly enjoyable wines of the evening,
competing with the 1989 for honors as the best Monprivato of the 1980s. A great
effort. 96/Anticipated maturity: 2006-2012.

Flight 3: Next up were two older gems. Mascarello’s 1978
Barolo Villero displays a balsamic nose with cocoa, leather and licorice
overtones along with deeply packed dark fruit on a massive, structured frame of
great length, very much in the style of the austere, still youthful vintage. It
should continue to drink well for at least another decade. 91/Anticipated
maturity: 2006-2016. Nothing we had tasted so far could have prepared us for
the wine that would follow. I have only had Mascarello’s 1967 Barolo once
before but this bottle was simply off the charts. It opens with a beguiling,
complex nose with prominent aromas of chocolate and leather, then flows onto
the palate with waves of sweet dark fruit that open with notable concentration
and extraordinary finesse. For many in the group, myself included, the 1967
Barolo was the Wine of the Night. It is the kind of wine one so often hopes to
drink yet so rarely gets to drink. It was also without question the wine that
stimulated the most conversation. The practice of blending fruit from various
communes has all but disappeared today, but tasting this wine made me think
about how sage that approach may have been and I was not alone in that thought.
Although perhaps not as singularly expressive as the best Monprivatos, the 1967
Barolo offered a level of completeness, harmony and sheer drinking pleasure
that none of the other wines had. "It used to be common practice to make
Barolos from fruit that was sourced from different communes. One vineyard might
give you the perfume, while another would provide the concentration of fruit.
Grapes from a third site could be used for structure. By blending the fruit
from these different sources you could make a wine that had all of the
qualities needed to make a great, well-balanced wine," says Mascarello.
"The reality is that if you’re going to make a single-vineyard Barolo you
need a plot that can give you all three elements - perfume, fruit and
structure- and there aren’t too many sites where that is possible."
96/Anticipated maturity: 2006-2011.

Flight 4: The 1967 Barolo would have been a great wine with
which to end just about any evening, but not this one. Mascarello continues
"In 1970 I wanted to make my first wine using only Monprivato fruit, but
my father was opposed to my making a single-vineyard wine. Finally he relented,
but he told me that if I absolutely had to go ahead with my idea I should use
the fruit from a specific plot within the vineyard that was was planted with a
special, low-yielding clone of the Michet variety of nebbiolo." In the
mid-1980s when Mascarello decided to produce special Riserva he started an
intense research project to isolate the most consistently outstanding plants in
the vineyard. Over the course of four years he narrowed down the top-performing
plants from 1900 to 160. He then grafted those clones onto low-yielding
rootstock in a one hectare plot within the Monprivato vineyard planted to a
higher than normal density. The first wines were produced in vintages 1993 and
1995 but it wasn’t until 1996 and 1997 that the true potential of this wine
began to emerge. Only bottled in vintages where Mascarello feels the Riserva is
significantly higher in quality than his Monprivato, the Ca’ d’Morissio has
established itself as one of the region’s most unique and compelling wines.

The 1997 Barolo Riserva Ca’ d’Morissio is an absolutely
irresistible wine that balances the opulence of the vintage with a classic
sense of proportion. It opens with an exotic nose of roses, minerals, and sweet
fruit that melds seamlessly onto the palate, where the wine explodes with
masses of super-ripe fruit in a rich, concentrated style. As the wine sits in
the glass its underlying structure becomes more apparent, suggesting that
despite its ripeness, this wine is built to age. This was every bit as
impressive as it has been in previous tastings, and it was also the first
bottle to be finished. It will last for decades. 95/Anticipated maturity:
2012-2027. Mascarello’s 1996 Barolo Riserva Ca’ d’Morissio, with its more
classic aromas and flavors is the perfect foil to the 1997. It shows a
captivating, well-delineated nose that suggests roses, violets and minerals,
along with densely packed layers of primary black cherry fruit on a big,
structured frame with notable length, purity and imposing tannins. Though not
especially expressive today, my sense is that this wine is holding back much of
its potential and it will be a fascinating effort to follow, but it will
require significant patience. 95+/Anticipated maturity: 2011-2031.